


What adventures we'll have

by BelaBoo



Category: Calvin & Hobbes, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-15 22:56:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13041240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelaBoo/pseuds/BelaBoo
Summary: Calvin's daughter is off to school.





	What adventures we'll have

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kiwigirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwigirl/gifts).



“Our little girl is growing up.”

Calvin looked over to where Clementine was determinedly packing her bags for school. She was currently sat atop a large blue one, desperately tugging at the stubborn zip, and was refusing her parents’ offers of help: “I’m twelve, I know how to pack a bag. I can do it myself.”

He swallowed the lump in his throat, and blinked several times. “Well, yeah. That’s the way that time works. It goes forward, people get older.” He glanced at his watch, then threw his arms dramatically skyward. “Oh, time, why do you move so?” 

He earned himself a slap on the arm from his wife, and the nerves in his stomach settled a little. This was comfortable. The smart aleck remark that came all too easily, the slight admonishment from his wife, and his daughter’s refusal to acknowledge what he’d said. Sometimes he’d get a roll of the eyes out of her, but she had perfected the art of tuning him out when he was embarrassing her. And now, she still sat tugging on the zip.

“Dinner’s ready”, Angie told the pair. 

“Just – one – moment, I’ve nearly got this”, Clementine grunted. She tugged and the zipper moved a tiny amount before it escaped her grip, before unzipping a good foot or so. Clementine groaned, as her bag appeared to open a giant mouth. “I was so close!” 

“We’ll try after dinner, sweetheart. Daddy and I will help you.”

Clementine was obviously debating with herself. “I CAN do it myself … but I’m also rather hungry. And if it would make you guys HAPPY to do it for me then I guess I could permit that.”

“How gracious of you. Now. Downstairs. Scoot. You too, Calvin.” 

Calvin had wandered over to survey the packing situation. Two closed, smaller bags, and the large monster of a bag. Some soft toys had been placed off to the side, clearly rejected. 

Clementine saw him looking. “I can’t take toys to school, Dad. I’m not a baby anymore.” But she didn’t sound so certain.

“I know”, Calvin said, trying to hide the sadness in his voice. 

“You’ll make sure they’re here waiting for me when I come back, though, won’t you?”

“They’ll be right here.”

 

 

 

 

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************

*BURRRRPPPP*

“I’d give that an eight.” Calvin sat back and patted his belly. 

“Oh yeah?” Clementine challenged. “Watch. This.” And she guzzled the water left in her glass and opened her mouth. 

*URR-RRR-UUURRRRP*

Placing her glass back on the table with a little flourish, she smiled. “And THAT is how it’s done. Solid ten.”

“Oh yeah?” Calvin challenged. “Standards are slipping, it seems. That wasn’t any more than a seven.”

“It was too a ten!”

“Maybe in some parallel universe. But here, in my house? That was not what counts as a ten star burp.”

Angie put a hand to her forehead. “Please tell me you are not going to behave like that in school.”

“Oh, I don’t know”, Calvin remarked. “It’s not a REAL school that she’s going to, now, is it? Who knows what you’re allowed to do there!”

“Not burp”, Angie said firmly. “I know I’m just a No-Maj, but my mother went to Ilvermorny, and it sounds like a perfectly respectable school.”

“Your mother is …” Calvin trailed off. 

“Oh, finish that thought, I dare you.”

“He’s right, Mom. Nana is abnormally uptight.” Clementine giggled. “I don’t know what she’d do if she heard our burping contests.”

“Probably have a heart attack.”

“Calvin!”

“I kid, I kid.”

“Why did neither of you go to Ilvermorny?” Clementine asked for what must have been the hundredth time. 

“No magic”, her parents chorused. “It skipped a generation when it got to me”, her mother said sadly, and her father remarked somewhat bitterly “there’s never been any magic at all in my family.”

“Don’t worry Dad”, Clementine said kindly. “When you come up for parents day I’ll show you all around. And when I come home I can show you all the cool things I learn how to do!”

Calvin perked up at that. “You’ll be home for winter break … you could work a little Frosty the Snowman magic on my snowmen.”

Angie tried her hardest to look disapproving at that, but couldn’t. 

“You know you love my snowmen.”

“I do love those vile things.”

 

 

 

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Clementine sat on her bed. It was rather strange, she thought.

She had changed into her pyjamas. 

She had brushed her teeth. 

She had filled up a glass of water and set it on her bedside table.

She had kissed her mom goodnight.

All that was left was for her father to come and tuck her in. And then that would be the last night she slept in this bed until vacation, and that was simply ages away. 

Unsettled at the thought, she reached for Hubble – but the stuffed polar bear was sitting discarded on her desk with the rest of her toys, and unable to offer her any comfort. Was it really too babyish to have a stuffed toy when you were twelve?, she wondered. Surely some of the other students would have them. 

There was a knock at her door. “Come in!”

Her dad entered the room, arms behind his back, and she immediately got suspicious. Water gun? No, not at this time of night. And not in the house. Her mom would kill him. 

He could read her expression, and shifted uncomfortably. “Now, I know you decided not to take any toys with you to school, but I thought maybe …” and he placed something on her bed. 

“Hobbes?” she asked in surprise. 

“You’re just going so far away. Which will be great! It’ll be a real adventure, and Hobbes was always the best travelling companion. Up for anything. But it’ll also be a little scary. Not for you, of course. But for me. And your mom. I’ll feel better if Hobbes is there to comfort you – he was always great at that too. You know. Someone to hug if you’re missing home.”

“You’re giving me Hobbes?” She was surprised. Hobbes always seemed like much more than a stuffed tiger to her dad. 

“I’m giving you Hobbes”, he confirmed. “If you’ll have him.”

“Well, I DO think that some of the other kids will have stuffed toys. And he’s not a cutesy babyish toy. And it would be nice to have something from you with me, so that you’re with me too, in a way.”

Her dad smiled. “I’m glad. Now, let’s get you tucked in. It’s a big day tomorrow.” He tucked Clementine and Hobbes both under the covers, and kissed them both on the forehead. “Goodnight.”

He was turning off the light when Clementine bolted out of bed and threw herself at him, giving him a huge hug. “What’s this for, then”

“I love you, Dad. I just had to tell you.” 

He smiled. “I love you too. Goodnight.” And he closed the door. 

Clementine turned around. 

And screamed. 

“What?” asked the large, DEFINITELY REAL, tiger that was sitting on her bed. “And I must say, that WAS a very touching scene.”

“You’re real?!” 

“Isn’t it amazing what can happen when a stuffed toy is in the hands of somebody with magic”, Hobbes mused. “Oh boy! What adventures we’re about to have!”


End file.
